remember that one time i almost burned down the house?

Okay, so not really. But kinda.

It all started with one of my brilliant ideas...

Brett and I were on a road trip and talking about the meaning of life, the cure for poverty, and the migration patterns of killer whales.

Ok, so we were really just talking about our son, our new little family unit, and what kind of holiday traditions are important for us to maintain or begin.

Then it came to me. Burn the Boat 2013.

I have never been a big fan of New Year's Resolutions. See this old post. They seem pretty pointless and gimmicky. Does anyone ever actually make good on their promise to themselves for the new year? Does anyone even remember what they resolved to do (or not do)? I don't think so!

So I came up with a better idea.

You know, some people really enjoyed 2012. For them it was filled with a long list of accomplishments, life-changing decisions, fun vacations, important people met, etc. But for some of us, 2012 was mediocre at best, or even downright awful.

So I proposed a wonderfully cathartic tradition to begin this year and continue on with my child and family in the years to come. Burn the Boat. And this is how it goes:

Every New Years Eve, each family member will write down everything from the past year that they want to let go of as they look forward to a new beginning. They can scribble down bad feelings, bad habits, people they need to let go of, etc. The point is to take note of everything from the previous year that is not serving them well and just let it go!

Then, they will place this folded up paper onto a little toy boat which would then be placed into the filled up bathtub. What comes next? You guessed it! Burn, baby, burn!

Awesome, right?!?!

In theory, yes.

In practice, not so much...

Last night we did not have a little toy boat to burn, so we decided to make floating origami boats instead and have each person write directly onto their boat.

So far, so good.

Then we commenced to the bathtub where we lit the boats.

It was incredibly difficult to get them to stay aflame...  So for a few minutes they were little black-top boats just floating around. Not incredibly cathartic.

Finally, we got a little flame action. But with the flames came smoke, and apparently, that was enough to piss off the smoke detector gods and they began their angry chanting.

Needless to say, this is one tradition that sadly, will probably not make it to future generations unless we magically move somewhere that has an outdoor lake in the backyard. Rats!

Thankfully, we were able to salvage our New Year with one tradition that will never die. We toasted and cheers-ed to the New Year at midnight with our Jones Soda, letting its fortune set the tone for our upcoming year.

"The longest journey is started by a single step, take it."

Don't mind if I do!

Happy New Year- to the Year 2013!